First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood

The Resource First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood

First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood

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The item First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Worcester Free Library.

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If the Wright brothers' 1903 flights in Kitty Hawk marked the birth of aviation, World War I can be called its violent adolescence a brief but bloody era that completely changed the way planes were designed, fabricated, and flown. The war forged an industry that would redefine transportation and warfare for future generations. In First to Fly , lauded historian Charles Bracelen Flood tells the story of the men who were at the forefront of that revolution: the daredevil Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille, who flew in French planes, wore French uniforms, and showed the world an American brand of heroism before the United States entered the Great War. As citizens of a neutral nation from 1914 to early 1917, Americans were prohibited from serving in a foreign army, but many brave young souls soon made their way into European battle zones: as ambulance drivers, nurses, and more dangerously, as soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. It was partly from the ranks of the latter group, and with the sponsorship of an expat American surgeon and a Vanderbilt, that the Lafayette Escadrille was formed in 1916 as the first and only all-American squadron in the French Air Service. Flying rudimentary planes, against one-in-three odds of being killed, these fearless young men gathered reconnaissance and shot down enemy aircraft, participated in the Battle of Verdun and faced off with the Red Baron, dueling across the war-torn skies like modern knights on horseback. Drawing on rarely seen primary sources, Flood chronicles the startling success of that intrepid band, and gives a compelling look at the rise of aviation and a new era of warfare

If the Wright brothers' 1903 flights in Kitty Hawk marked the birth of aviation, World War I can be called its violent adolescence a brief but bloody era that completely changed the way planes were designed, fabricated, and flown. The war forged an industry that would redefine transportation and warfare for future generations. In First to Fly , lauded historian Charles Bracelen Flood tells the story of the men who were at the forefront of that revolution: the daredevil Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille, who flew in French planes, wore French uniforms, and showed the world an American brand of heroism before the United States entered the Great War. As citizens of a neutral nation from 1914 to early 1917, Americans were prohibited from serving in a foreign army, but many brave young souls soon made their way into European battle zones: as ambulance drivers, nurses, and more dangerously, as soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. It was partly from the ranks of the latter group, and with the sponsorship of an expat American surgeon and a Vanderbilt, that the Lafayette Escadrille was formed in 1916 as the first and only all-American squadron in the French Air Service. Flying rudimentary planes, against one-in-three odds of being killed, these fearless young men gathered reconnaissance and shot down enemy aircraft, participated in the Battle of Verdun and faced off with the Red Baron, dueling across the war-torn skies like modern knights on horseback. Drawing on rarely seen primary sources, Flood chronicles the startling success of that intrepid band, and gives a compelling look at the rise of aviation and a new era of warfare

http://library.link/vocab/creatorName

Flood, Charles Bracelen

Dewey number

940.4

Illustrations

illustrations

maps

portraits

photographs

Index

no index present

LC call number

D603

LC item number

.F58 2015

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

http://library.link/vocab/subjectName

Fighter plane combat

Fighter pilots

Air warfare

World War, 1914-1918

Target audience

adult

Label

First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood

Two deaths trigger thirty-seven million more -- By God I know mighty well what I would do! -- How the new thing grew -- Aspects of the great new dimension -- What manner men? -- Contrasts -- The odds are never good : Clyde Balsley -- he oddsmaker is impersonal : Victor Chapman -- Women at war : Alice Weeks -- More American eagles take to the sky -- There was this man named Bert Hall -- New commanders for a new form of combat -- Shadows of war in the "City of Light" -- Things are different up there, and then on the ground -- Bert Hall takes life by the horns -- Aces -- A bloody report card --Bert Hall as thinker, bartender , and raconteur -- Bad things happen to good new men -- Convenient emergencies -- Unique volunteers -- The war changes men and women, some for better, and some for worse -- Colorful men arrive on the Eastern Front -- A letter from home, to a young man with a secret -- The United States enters the war -- A lion in the air passes the torch, and the Escadrille bids its own lions farewell -- Yvonne! -- Good-bye, Luf. And thank you -- Different American wings in French skies -- the end of a long four years -- L'envoi -- Farewell

Dimensions

21 cm

Edition

First edition.

Extent

xvii, 266 pages

Isbn

9780802123657

Isbn Type

(hc)

Media category

unmediated

Media MARC source

rdamedia

Media type code

n

Other physical details

illustrations, map, portraits, facsimile, photographs

Label

First to fly : the story of the Lafayette Escadrille, the American heroes who flew for France in World War I, Charles Bracelen Flood

Two deaths trigger thirty-seven million more -- By God I know mighty well what I would do! -- How the new thing grew -- Aspects of the great new dimension -- What manner men? -- Contrasts -- The odds are never good : Clyde Balsley -- he oddsmaker is impersonal : Victor Chapman -- Women at war : Alice Weeks -- More American eagles take to the sky -- There was this man named Bert Hall -- New commanders for a new form of combat -- Shadows of war in the "City of Light" -- Things are different up there, and then on the ground -- Bert Hall takes life by the horns -- Aces -- A bloody report card --Bert Hall as thinker, bartender , and raconteur -- Bad things happen to good new men -- Convenient emergencies -- Unique volunteers -- The war changes men and women, some for better, and some for worse -- Colorful men arrive on the Eastern Front -- A letter from home, to a young man with a secret -- The United States enters the war -- A lion in the air passes the torch, and the Escadrille bids its own lions farewell -- Yvonne! -- Good-bye, Luf. And thank you -- Different American wings in French skies -- the end of a long four years -- L'envoi -- Farewell